IT Test Orchestration System Automating Team Communication

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Solution Overview

Problem

In mainframe manufacturing, communication between teams is inefficient, leading to delays and missed deadlines due to manual processes, lack of transparency, and overlapping actions, with current dashboards providing inadequate information on test cell status and progress.

Innovation Solution

An orchestration system that maintains records of test operation owners, automatically prompts them upon failures, logs actions, updates estimated time to completion, prioritizes tasks based on delivery dates, and provides real-time dashboards to notify owners and management of urgent issues, ensuring timely completion and reducing idle time.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual processes are used for tracking test operations and communication between teams, then flexibility and human judgment are maintained, but communication efficiency decreases and delays occur

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication efficiencyVSAvoiddelays and idle time

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically monitors test operation status, identifies failures, and notifies relevant owners without requiring manual intervention. The automated notification system sends alerts to appropriate team members when test operations fail, enabling self-service tracking and reducing communication overhead between teams.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements continuous feedback loops by monitoring test operation status in real-time and automatically notifying stakeholders of changes. When a test operation fails or completes, the system provides immediate feedback to relevant owners and management, enabling rapid response and reducing delays.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Loss of information

If detailed logging and monitoring of all test operations is implemented, then transparency and visibility are improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransparency and visibilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The monitoring system is segmented into specialized components: an execution status monitor for detecting test operation status, an ownership database for tracking owners, an interactive issue resolver for managing notifications, and an issue manager for coordinating actions. This modular architecture provides comprehensive visibility while managing system complexity through clear separation of concerns.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Speed

If automated notification systems are implemented to alert owners of test operation failures, then response time is improved, but communication overhead increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresponse timeVSAvoidcommunication overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces an interactive issue resolver as an intermediary between test operation failures and human owners. This mediator automatically detects failures, determines appropriate notifications, and communicates with relevant stakeholders, reducing the need for manual monitoring while maintaining efficient communication channels.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Adaptability or versatility

If real-time dashboards are provided to multiple teams, then collaboration and awareness are enhanced, but information management complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecollaboration and awarenessVSAvoidinformation management complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The dashboard system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it displays test operation status, tracks estimated time to completion, monitors delivery date risks, and provides priority rankings. This multi-functional dashboard enhances collaboration and awareness across teams while managing information complexity through a unified interface.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS11789798B2Method and system for enhancing orchestration and automating communication between teams during IT systems testing

Publication Date: 2023.10.17 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

An apparatus includes circuitry configured to maintain a record of a plurality of owners and at least one test operation owned by an owner; prompt automatically the owner in response to a failure of the one test operation; maintain a log of actions taken on the one test operation, and provide availability to the log of actions; update an estimated time to completion, and notify a management entity of the updated estimated time to completion; mark and prioritize an order related to the one test operation, in response to the estimated time to completion being within a threshold of a delivery date; rank the marked order with other marked orders by a risk of not being able to meet the delivery date; and notify the owner of the ranking with an urgent message, in response to the marked order failing to meet the delivery date.